Main Menu

Secondary Menu

Hot Drink Packages

About: I'm 61 and single, two kids and five grandchildren. I'm a Plumber by trade.I love to help people and fixing things others can't gives me joy. People often call me "McGiver".
More About rorys »

I'm an avid camper, when anyone asks "Does anyone what to go camping?" my hand goes up before they get a chanch to say where of when. Over the years I have lugged my favoite hot drink along in bulky containers.

On my last trip, a group of us went white-water canoeing. Naturally with all that potential portaging you want to take as little as you can. But hey, you have to have a hot drink in the cool mornings right. So I brought mine along, although for years now I have put them in a plastic bottle. The ones they come in are no good because the glass ones can break, the cardboard ones get wet and go soggy or they get crushed and the lids on the tin ones always come off. With any of the above, you get powder everywhere. And it usually happens in your backpack.

Anyway, one of our group had been given samples of Tim Hortans coffee in little plastic packages with sugar and whitener already added. Good idea, but I don't drink coffee. Tim Hortans was a famous Canadian hockey player and started the coffee chain after he retired.

When I got home, I was making myself a hot drink when I saw my Food Saver machine and I had a flash of genius. Why not make my own packages, they would certainly take up a lot less room in my pack.

I've been reading "Instructables" for some time now and really appreaciate all the good ideas and have used a number of them. So I thought I'd take a shot at creating an "ible" in order to say thanks.

Step 1: Make Your Own Pakaged Drinks

Step 2: Lets Begin

Start by taking your plastic bag, the better the quality the less likelyhood of it getting punctured. Using your food saver, divide it into small tubes. You can make them any size you want, I chose to make them long and thin, but short and fat would work too if you prefer. Then cut off one of the original sides to make an opening and cut the tubes apart.

Step 3: Fill Them Up

Put the funnel in the open end and pour in your measure of drink powder into the tube, add sweetener and whitener if you want them.
I use a drink called "Bambu" No it doesn't have any bamboo in it. Then I put in a smidgen of Stivia.
Stivia is a sweener derived from the Stivia plant. it is 10 times sweeter that sugar, is a natual product and the only sweetener that doesn'thave a harmful effect on diabetics.
Yes a smidgen is a real measurement, see the spoon.

Step 4: Seal Them Up

Line them up on your Food Saver, close the lid and vacuum seal them.
You don't really have to vacuum them but you run the risk of them popping if they get squashed.

Step 5: All Done

Take them out, cut off the extra piece and throw them in your food pack.
You could do this with thouse sweet powdered drink mixes too, but I don't know why you would want to drink that stuff, it's just sugar.
You may notice that two didn't get vacuumed. I found a tiny hole in the original edge of one, but I don't know why the other didn't seal.

I have never used my Foodsaver with anything but Foodsaver bags. I'm nervous to try using other bags on it! I may need to try this. It would work well for homemade food mixes too. One suggestion for labeling/organization. If desired, one could staple the packets together at the tabs on top and simply tear off used or desired packets. Labeling could be acheived by labeling with a soft-tipped permanant marker/pen before filling OR by printing out a sheet of labels and labeling them that way. Just thought I'd throw that out.

I've often though of making (homemade yogurt)Gogurts or Freezie pops for the kids but it seems pretty messy for how quickly they would be consumed. But stilll might be fun to try anyway :)

I have used a number of different types of plastic bags and found theat the thicker the better. Thin ones melt rather than seal.If I want to lable them or inlcude cooking instructions I write on slips of paper and put it in the bag before sealing. Ihave tryed the maker idea but found that if it gets wet it comes off.

I don't have a vacuum machine, so I just dump enough powder in a zip-loc bag and put that bag in another bag in case of spillage. I use a spoon to take as much powder as I need (Mmmmm hot cacao with some added instant coffee and cinnamon...)

I'm not one to go camping, but I imagine theese would come in handy - especially weight- and waste-wise. The only thing I'd worry about is squashing them somehow, but I guess a sturdy container is a given for those little hotties either way.

Thanks for your comment. I use a plastic container with a lid that has clamps on the sides as my First Aid kit. I'm going to get another for this type of package. I'm doing it with my dehydrated foods as well now.